Nellie lays down the law on foul shots / Players will have to hit or sit

Published 4:00 am, Friday, September 29, 2006

Photo: Michael Macor

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warriors_180_mac.jpg Coach Nelson meets with the news media. The Golden State Warriors have named Don Nelson as the team's new head coach, it was announced today by Executive Vice President of Basketball Operation's Chris Mullin. Event in, Oakland, Ca, on 8/30/06. Photo by: Michael Macor/San Francisco Chronicle Mandatory credit for Photographer and San Francisco Chronicle / Magazines Out less

warriors_180_mac.jpg Coach Nelson meets with the news media. The Golden State Warriors have named Don Nelson as the team's new head coach, it was announced today by Executive Vice President of Basketball ... more

Photo: Michael Macor

Nellie lays down the law on foul shots / Players will have to hit or sit

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There's a place on the Warriors for an otherwise key player who can't hit his free throws. And that place -- at least at crunch time - is on the bench.

The Warriors made only 71.8 percent of their foul shots last season under Mike Montgomery; only four NBA teams were worse at the line. Nelson said that's got to change.

"There's going to be a lot of work done on free throws (in training camp, which opens Monday)," he said.

While saying he has liked a lot of what he has seen of his team on tape, he said, "It's obvious that the biggest problem they had in not winning games is their free-throw shooting."

He said he and his staff will try hard to fix that -- "if it's fixable at all. There are some guys that, no matter what you do and how much practice, will never be good at free-throw shooting. Those players are going to have their minutes limited because free-throw shooting is important to me and we're going to get to the foul line a lot. ...

"Unfortunately, two of my best players don't shoot the free throw -- Richardson (67.3 percent last season) and Davis (67.5). There's no reason that they don't. They've got to get better at it."

The team paid a hefty price for its foul-shooting woes, he said. "If they had just made their free throws last year, they probably would have won six or seven more games."

As a coach, he said, "It's hard to play people in pressure situations -- and I don't care how good they are -- if they're not going to make their free throws."

He added "the onus is going to be on the player" to make them. "If he doesn't, I don't want to hear any complaints about 'I wasn't in the game at the end.' ... If it bothers them that it's a high priority for the coach, the hell with them."

Another big concern of Nelson's is the Warriors' three-point shooting. They were 22nd in the league in accuracy from beyond the arc, and they took a lot of three-pointers (1,832). Only Phoenix took more (2,097), but the Suns also led the league by shooting 39.9 percent from long range.

"It's the decision making that's my biggest concern," he said, adding that's especially critical for a smaller team like the Warriors. Nelson's trademark is a fast-paced game with plenty of offense, but he warned the players to be choosy with their shots.

"If these players think that all of a sudden we're going to be launching up as many threes as they had last year -- or more -- they're mistaken. We're going to shoot less, probably."

The emphasis will be on plays to set up shots. "We'll shoot that three, but we're not going to just come down and shoot a three on our own guy while guarded, without some penetration, some passing, some good basketball plays."

With 13 home games out of the first 17, it's imperative that the team get off to a quick start, he said. To help them do that, he said he'll only give them five plays at the start, with three variations on each. "I'm going to be very simple."

Briefly: Mario Elie will not be among the assistant coaches but will work with Executive Vice President Chris Mullin, Nelson said. ... Richardson may miss a couple of weeks of training camp as his knee heals from arthroscopic surgery in August. ... Troy Murphy has embraced his new role as mainly a center, Nelson said.

From the line
Coach Don Nelson is insisting that the Warriors free-throw shooting improve
Player FTA/FTM PCT
Richardson 410/276 .673
Davis 289/195 .675

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